This is long, sorry!

Note:  This bit was written yesterday on the train -->

Nine hours on a ferry isn’t as cool as I thought it would be, it turns out.  About four hours into the trip I realized it took me as long to cross the channel from France to England as it did to FLY from Canada to the UK.  Lame.  

I’ve been bad about posting in the last little while, and I apologize.  I get like this towards the end of every trip – usually during the last week of a trip, I realize time is running out and I quit checking emails, writing posts, taking photos, even – all in the attempt to make the most of the last of the time I have available to me.  I never, ever want traveling to end – every time I get close to going home, I get really sad.  I really do wish I could just live out of my backpack, which is funny, because when I AM living out of my backpack, I wish just to have a spot to leave my stuff in one place.  Grass is greener on the other side, or something. 

It makes the most sense for me to catch up on the days I’ve missed, rather than tell you immediately about my day today, because one thing will lead to another, and I’ll just never mention anything that’s happened previously at all.

So, I don’t have access to the internet right now, but I think the last post I made was in the train station at Rennes...or possibly last night in the hotel.  I can’t remember.  

...no, definitely in Saint Malo.  Anyhow – Mont Saint-Michel was amazing.  The night I got into Pontorson, I biked out to it just to see – it wasn’t even intentional.  I had just gotten the bike, was riding around town (because what else would I do with a bike?) and I found a sign that said “Mont St-Michel, 10km. I couldn’t help myself.  I found the first ride there really difficult, mainly because my chain kept falling off – which I think was due to that broken derailleur cog.  Who the fuck makes this stuff out of plastic?  Actually, impressively, I managed to put 50km on that bike, even though only two gears worked, the derailleur was malfunctioning, and the chain had too many links in it.  Oh, and it hadn’t been serviced correctly since what I swear was 1982. ...and I was riding into a strong headwind.  Yeah, that sucks.

I cycled out again yesterday at 7am, and stayed on the Mont until about noon, when I cycled back into town.  I cycled around town for a while too, but I’ve got some saddle sores from biking + sweating + no bike shorts, and it was starting to really hurt to sit on the seat, so I gave it back to the rental place. 

Right – I’m sorry this isn’t the best description.  I’m distracted by these incredibly god-damned ANNOYING British people on the train (which is where I am now, because I’ll probably be busy visiting Jamie once I get into Shiplake) – they have this ringtone of a woman orgasming, and they keep playing it, loudly, and laughing in that way that fat people laugh, and I’m resisting the urge to break the phone into equal parts with their faces, and shove the pieces into their throats.  Not a single French person annoyed me, in the entire time I was in France.  I’ve been in Britain for ONE hour...just sayin’.

Mont St-Michel is huge.  I mean, I KNOW that it’s huge, but I didn’t really realize how large it was until I saw it in person.  It’s also filled with Asian tourists, which I don’t normally pay any attention to, but there has been such a lack of Asians in the last couple of weeks, it was startling to be surrounded by Japanese people.  I couldn’t believe how many tourists there was.  And literally like a hundred shops all selling the same souveneirs.  Silliness.  Tourists aside (yes, I realize I am one too) – the sun was shining, and I’m glad I went so early in the morning because I avoided the worst of the crowds, and the worst of the heat – it was quite hot yesterday.  I managed to burn waiting for the train to leave Pontorson later in the day.  

I explored the ramparts, and paid to get into the abbayé – I found it really interesting just to walk around.  I’ve been in lots of cathedrals before, but never ones that had military defences.  During the hundred years war, the monastery was seiged three times, and never conquered.  It was even a prison for a while, in the 1700s – it only just recently became a monastery again.  I went during low tide – there were signs in some of the parking lots saying to move your vehicle before 18:30 because the parking lot goes under water with the high tide. 

I really, really enjoyed the cycling there and back.  Enough that I’m going to do it again next year, but bring my own bicycle and cycle through Brittany and Normandy, I think.  I didn’t spend enough time there this time around.  So much more to explore!  

Saint Malo, for instance.  I only got to see it for last night, and most of the places were closed because it was so late – and I left early this morning.  Oh – I made friends with a dog!  His name was Beno, or possibly Béno.  (It sounded like Bean-o) ...little black thing while I was waiting for the fromagerie to open up for the morning.  I very last minute bought some cheese to bring home with me – it’s all sharp stuff, and the one that isn’t is rolled in wax, so it should be fine.  Vio said she has friends who do it all the time. 

Oop!  Low battery – I guess I’ll finish this in Shiplake!

Note:  This bit is written properly, online, in Shiplake -->

The ferry ride from Saint-Malo to Portsmouth was pretty uneventful, as far as these things go.  I was excited for the first couple of hours, and after that, it just became tedious travel.  I passed out on a bench in the sun for a couple of hours (with my hoodie over my face to keep it out of the sun) - it wasn't nearly as fun as crossing at Dover.  Dover was CRAZY windy and lots of waves.  For this crossing, I was just on a really big boat with expensive food.  I spent a fortune on food!  And I ate a sandwich at lunch time with brie in it, it was good by the way, but my stomach hurt for the whole of yesterday.  Oh, and I got yogurt served in clay pots.  CLAY POTS.  I can't believe people throw them out after - I kept both of them and I'm silly, but I'm taking them home with me.  

Oh, and I broke my light-my-fire spork today.  I accidently sat on it and it crunched.  I liked that spork. =(  

Getting into Shiplake last night was a little bit silly (a li-uulll bit) - the ticket machine only took european cards, none of which I own, not being European, obviously - and it took me 3 + hours to get to Shiplake even though it's only 2 hours away by train, because somebody threw themselves on the track at Meadowhead, a station near to Reading.  Oh, and it was the Henley Regatta too - so the trains were filled with smartly dressed, very drunk chavs, and women who wore heels so high and dresses so short they could have passed as prostitutes.  It's odd seeing what qualifies as dressing up in some countries.   

 

Seeing Jamie has been AWESOME.  It's much more preferrable to talk to him face-to-face than to speak via a computer (how we communicate otherwise) - shame my visit is so short.  His mother and his sister were quite welcoming as well, and so too was the cat (who never gives love to anyone, but gave me kisses the moment I said hi - yay kitty cats!)  - I haven't really spoken much to his dad or brother, but that's fine - his brother has smelly teenager syndrome, and his dad seems a little bit standoffish.  I don't mind, really - he took me for a ride in his vintage 1968 MG (little British sports car - it was fun!) - I do quite like his sister and mom.  I got to meet his grandmother this time too, as she's visiting from...Spain?  I think.  I could ask - he's sitting right next to me on his computer, but I don't feel like it.  

AND THERE ARE FAT PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.  Holy fat people.  I saw TWO in all of France.  

Today I made Jamie get up at what was considered sleeping in for me, but quite probably an ungodly hour for him, and we wandered around Shiplake (it didn't take long) and we hopped the train to Henley (Henley-on-Thames) and wandered around.  The regatta is still going on, which is apparently a huge boat race that people dress upper-class for, suits and dresses and the such, and it was kinda neat to see that.  And we went to the Starbucks where he works - and then walked back from Henley along a pretty path.  I'm not sure of what we'll be doing this evening, but tomorrow we're going to visit Oxford, and then I have to head to London because I come home on the 5th.  LAME.  

I want to live here.  I really, really do.  Oh, and it's been really strange to speak English and hear it spoken.  It took me all of last night to adjust - I keep wanting to automate back to French when people speak to me.

Nothing Coherent Here

God, I love this song.  For whatever reason, it just occurred to me that I can use Youtube - so I'm listening to Champion in Me by Three Doors Down.  Honestly, the best lyrics ever. 

"When the others cower, I'm in my finest hour,
We are champions created by design,
While I remember falling, I hear these dreams keep calling,
I work so hard, so long, I'll take what is mine  "


Anyhow, that's an aside.  I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE FRANCE.  I'm going to have to come back with my bicycle.  Speaking of bicycling, my bum is sore.  I rode 30 kilometres last night, and then 20 km more this morning when I woke up.  That's 50 kilometres in a 16 hour period, if anyone's counting.  Which I'm sure would be fine, if I had done any cycling at all in the past 2 weeks.  I haven't cycled since Amiens. 

So yeah.  My bum is sore. 

...and I'm sunburnt.  Did I mention I don't want to leave France?  Ever?

I will tell you about Mont Saint-Michel tomorrow.  I'm sunburnt, and tired, and I taste like tuna because I was dumb and decided to try pizza with fish in it.  Fish, blerr. 

PS:  I ordered mead with my lunch today.  Yeah - how awesome is that. 

Bikes and beer

You'd THINK France would be filled with stellar bicycles, because it hosts the Tour de France.  You really would. 

...and you'd be wrong. 

So I made it to Pontorson without issue - it's really quite a quaint little town.  A bit touristy, but hey -- it's near Mont Saint-Michel.  It's too be expected. 

Found my hostel, it's got no kitchen and no wifi, by the way.  Found the place to rent bicycles, convieniently right across the street.  Perfect.  Got a bicycle for 24 hours for only €10.  Even better.

...3 kilometres into using it, the chain falls off.  Fine, I fix it.  It falls off again.  I fix it again...and then I notice that there's an awful lot of slack in the chain.

Yeah.  The bike I rented: looks okay, actually looks like a proper bike, you know - not one of these silly vélib things that France seems to love so much.  Brakes work okay, tires aren't bald.  Good enough.  I start riding - the chain has too many links in it, the gears only shift into two of the 18 speeds it's got, and it's the two hardest gears.  Oh, and the rear derailleur actually broke on me during my ride.  The little cog at the rear of the derailleur that feeds the chain back towards the pedals...I touched it, and the plastic teeth crumbled under my fingers.  There's a huge crack in it, and I'm surprised it hasn't fallen off yet.

With all that, I've still managed to put 30 kilometres on that thing.  I got into town, got a bike, and found the trail (rather by accident) to Mont Saint-Michel.  So I rode all the way there (it's 10 km away), stared at it, went to the marché (store) and then rode back.  Found out my hostel doesn't have wifi, and grabbed my laptop and my phone and rode off in search of wifi.  I'm 3 miles out of Pontorson right now, at a MacDonalds, and I ordered a beer - which tastes awful, but there.  I did it.  I ordered beer at MacDonalds.

I'm not going to drink the rest of it, but whatever.  I still have to ride back to the hostel tonight, too.  That's dedication right there.  Tomorrow morning I'm riding back to Mont Saint-Michel to actually visit the monastery, and then I'm off to Saint-Malo, where I'll actually be sleeping in a REAL bed in a HOTEL!  I'm pretty excited.

PS:  Oh hell.  McD's wifi is too slow for me to add photos.  Guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow night.  

A day by train

I completely forgot to mention yesterday that we drove along part of the road belonging to the Tour de France.  I don't know HOW I forgot - it was practically the highlight of my day the other day...and I forgot.  THE TOUR DE FRANCE! 

But there are definitely worse ways to spend one's day.  I'm sitting in the deliciously warm sunshine outside the Rennes Gare, waiting for a connecting train to Pontorson (aka, Mont Saint Michel) - you know, that benedictine monastery from the 13th century that's only accessible at low tide?  Yeah, that.  I'm staying in a town 9km from the monastery, and I'm going to spend my evening trying to locate a place that will rent me a bike for tomorrow. 

For the geographically challenged, I was in Auvergne in the middle of France this morning, and 4 transfers by train later, I'm now in Brittany.  And it's pretty beautiful, I gotta say.  Not that I'm really aware of what the landscape looked like between here and Le Mans - I fell asleep.  But such is life - I passed fields of sunflowers and corn and wheat in the earlier part of my trip, and let's just say, the scenery has been incredibly easy on the eyes. 

I've got two hours or so to kill, and I found some free wifi, so I'm trying to charge my iPod, as it died exactly one song before my Mumford and Sons album finished.  How dare my iPod interrupt Mumford and Sons like that (I can picture Damon saying something like "Oh hell yeah, Mumford and Sons). 

I decided to try a quiche lorraine for lunch...they're gross.  I ate it anyhow, and I'm still trying to decide if it was a mistake or not.

Anyhow, this is just a quickie to give myself something to do while waiting for the train - I walked around the train station a little bit, but my bag is rather heavy now, with mead and honey, and I don't feel like walking very far. 

Hopefully I find a bike tonight! 

Train issues, window shopping, and more

I'm just letting it be known, that the France rail network is retarded. 

Okay, so I bought a pass.  I managed to get from Calais - Amiens, Amiens - Paris, you know, the normal way you would with a pass.  Hop on, get pass checked, carry on as normal.  From Paris - Clermont-Ferrand, I find out I'm supposed to be reserving seats.  Since this was my first non-TGV train trip, I figure 'okay, I can deal with this.  It's only for regional trains.' ...I pay €15 euro to stay on the train, fine.  I get it reimbursed later because my train CAUGHT ON FIRE.  Fine.  I can still deal with this. 

I try to LEAVE Clermont this morning...and I can't.  Like, I literally can't.  I went in the morning to the train station to reserve a seat on a train in the afternoon, and I got told I couldn't because even though there was still seats on the train, you couldn't reserve them.  I was also told that even though there was still seats on the train, I couldn't just hop on, or pay a little extra to take one of those seats...or anything.  WHY the fuck do you have EXTRA seats on a train, that you can only get on by reserving, if you cannot reserve them? 

Yeah.

Fuck you, SNCF.  So I tried other destinations - Lyon, Marseilles, Paris, etc.  Nope.  No dice there either.  So finally, we check (and I say 'we' because Vio was nice enough to come and help translate for me, because I had no bloody idea how to say all these things in French.  I could ask for a reservation, but beyond that...my French would have failed me.) ...so we check for tomorrow.  And I can reserve, but only for a train at 7:40 in the morning.  Fine.  I make the reservation, and get my tickets, and go on my slightly-less-than-merry way. 

The ONLY plus side to all of this is that I get to A) spend an extra day with Vio, and B) go straight to Pontorson in the north of France (Bretagne) instead of spending the night in Rennes and traveling to Pontorson in the morning, like the original plan was.  But seriously.  I hope someone from SNCF randomly comes across my blog when searching for something, and reads about what idiots they are.  Yeah, I said it.  SNCF, you are idiots. 

So yeah.  I haven't posted in a couple of days, and I'm well due to show off some photos.  It's been an interesting couple of days, mainly train-disaster related, but Clermont-Fd has been gorgeous and fantastic, and seeing Vio has been great (and Bruno as well, who is a darling!)  ...my last couple days in a rather long nutshell, because let's face it, I don't do anything with few words! 

June 28: Train disaster aside, the day ended pretty well.  Violaine had beer waiting for us at the apartment, and after what may possibly have been the best shower of my life, we drank beer, and then some wine, and then we went for a walk to a créperie and I had some fantastic food.  I'm surprised I'm not fat yet.  Food here is divine, and I will maintain that point until I leave France.  I've not had a bad thing yet - though, I've tried a few weirder items that I wasn't too fond of (cured ham, for instance - or St. Nectaire cheese) ...France has these little pickles that are delicious, but nevermind.  I ordered a crépe with rataouille in it!  Apparently, cider goes with crépes, and we drank a bottle of pear cider (and if I ever see a bottle anywhere in the world for sale, I'll be buying several) ...it was like fizzy pear water.  With alcohol.  C'est fantastique. 

I need to find a new word to use.

June 29:  We got up and left the house "early" at 10:30am - by the way, french yogurt is delicious.  I ate it with some homemade honey from Vio and some organic muesli.  I swear, this is practically a food blog with all the time I spend talking about food.  The highlight of France so far:  food.  No lies.

Bruno took the day off work, and the three of us took a daytrip out in the French countryside of Auvergne, (the name of the district we're in) and we stopped in a little village called Orcival and saw a little cathedral made out of black stones local to the area - instead of the little red shingles I've seen everywhere, this area of France uses black stones (looks similar to black shale, but it isn't shale - I think it's some kind of volcanic, but I genuinely have no idea what) and we found a little trail up a hill to a giant cross, and I FOUND FROGS! ...and I subsequently caught frogs.  Yay frogs!

There's tons of stinging nettle in France too - it's everywhere.  Disgusting stuff.  Speaking of disgusting, it was disgustingly hot for most of yesterday.  In the middle of the afternoon, we got a crazy little thundershower, and then a full-on thunderstorm later in the evening.  It poured most of the night.  Today has been cooler and cloudier - still warm, but much better.  My increasingly tanned skin was grateful.

After Orcival, we drove to a lake called Serviéres, and soaked our poor hot feet, and it was really pretty.  Then we drove to another little town called Chambon-Sur-Lac, and ate lunch at a lake (which is when it started to rain) - more lakes, I know - and then we drove to Murol, to see a medieval castle on top of a hill, and a reenactment play - show - thing.  It was amusing, though I couldn't understand all the words, and I got volunteered to go up and put on some armour, but I vehemently refused to go.  There was NO way I was going up in front of an entire class of school children, PLUS other people, to volunteer to do something entirely in French, when I couldn't understand all of what was being said.  It was CRAZY hot out too, I could feel sweat dripping down the backs of my knees - which is really the sign of it being way too hot.

Oh, more food related things: I tried a tomato called coeur de boeuf - SO tasty.  I ate it like an apple.  The whole huge thing.  And I tried a FIG yesterday.  A real and proper FRESH fig.  I've never seen one in my entire life.  A FIG.  I liked it.

After Murol, we were practically perishing of heat, so we headed back to Chambon, and found a beach on the other side of the lake.  I'd say we went for a swim, but let's be serious.  I can't swim - so I went for a...sit-down in the shallow end.  It was refreshing and awesome.  And I saw a toilet that you have to stand up to use!  I refused to use it.  It was weird. 

We had more delicious food for dinner, Bruno cooked some chicken with rosemary and other herbs, and I tried the single best wine of my life.  A bottle of 2003 red bordeaux (I say red, because I don't know if you can have white bordeaux or not)  ...and some pretty tasty cheese.  Cantal?  I'm going to buy some before I leave France and bring it home.  Imagine sharp English white cheddar...but French and local to the region I'm staying in right now.  DIVINE. 

This morning is when all the irksome train crap happened - but it wasn't a bad day overall.  Vio and I went shopping in the city centre - France is having some serious summer sales right now, and we found a hippie store that sells hippie clothes, and we spent forever trying on pants.  People with hourglass bodies are cursed - neither of us found anything that fit properly.  I bought a few small sundries at some other stores (french soap and the such) ...and I cooked dinner for them.  I made vegetable stirfry with sesame oil, and for dessert I made...wait for it:

Pear.  Banana.  Ginger.  Chocolate.  Crumble.

Needless to say, I'm taking the recipe home with me.  Tomorrow?  Drag my sorry ass all the way across the country to the north coast.  I wish I hadn't finished my book.  

PS: Here's some of the photos that I wanted to add to the last post but didn't bother -->

Today blew.

I wish it would snow.

I took a daytrip out to Auvers-Sur-Oise yesterday, and the weather was beautifully clear, but painfully hot.  I think it was over 30 celcius – maybe 30-35C? ...believe it or not, but today is hotter.  I don’t know the temperature, but I was sweating through my clothes by 7AM this morning.  The shower helped for about 5 minutes.  And my shoulders are burnt pretty good – I’ve not managed to burn anything really at all my entire trip thus far, but I wore my new dress yesterday, and it shows off the back of my shoulders, and next thing I knew, they were bright red.  I guess my arms are more tolerant to sunshine than my virgin upper body.  I suppose I have years of farmer’s tans to thank for that.  Anyhow, wearing my backpack today as I travel is excruciating.  Romain was kind enough to offer me some French medication for burns (I can’t remember the name, but the ingredient list has avocado oil in it, which I thought was odd.)  Anyhow, I applied it twice before I left this morning, and it’s helped a little, but the (now quite heavy) backpack straps on my shoulders hurts quite a bit. 

As I write this, I am on a train travelling to Clermont-Ferrand to see Violaine, a friend of mine I worked with in the arctic in 2008.  I’m sitting on the floor of the train, wondering consistently when I will either be kicked off the train for not having a reservation, or forced to pay extra because I don’t have a reservation.  Railpass or not, apparently I still need to reserve for trains that aren’t TGV trains (TGV trains are the super fast ones, and I am most certainly not on one of them) ...so this might be an interesting three and a half hour train ride – my bum hurts already and I’m only 20 minutes in.  Obviously, since I have no internet on the train, I’ll have finished the trip and be in Clermont-Ferrand by the time I am able to post this, so I might have extra added stuff at the bottom for things that happen later in the day.  I’m only doing this now to stave off the desire to pass out caused by the lack of air conditioning in this part of the train.  It is sweltering hot, and my poor arctic body is not used to it. 

Auvers-Sur-Oise yesterday was fantastic.  The weather was beautiful, and I managed to catch a direct train there – it’s a suburb of Paris, by the way – or it used to be.  Think of it like living in Vancouver and catching a one hour train out to...Langely, or Surrey, or Coquitlam, or something.   I make a point to stress the fact that the train was direct, because the train coming back into Paris was not, and it took me two hours to get back.

For those not in the know, Auvers-Sur-Oise is the resting place of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother, Théo – and home to his famous church painting (you know, the one I snapped a photo of in the Musée D’Orsay – that’s the L’Eligse Auvers-Sur-Oise ...and since I am mildly obsessed with him, of course I made the journey out to visit his grave, and see the church, and see the Auberge Ravoux – the place he lived in before he committed suicide.  I was annoyed that it cost me €6 just to see the room AND not be allowed to take photos, but damn it, I wanted to see it! 

Nothing else cost me money that day, though – except food, obviously – so it wasn’t a bad deal, I suppose.  I walked up a little road to the church, and took a few photos, I did not go in further than the threshold of the church, because service was just ending, and I didn’t want to rudely interrupt anyone with faith strong enough to actually attend church.  From the church, there was another little road with signs leading up to the Cemetérie, and it led me through picture-perfect yellow wheat fields filled with red poppies, and other little flowers.  I kept getting these stupid little bugs on me though, and they were freaking me out – some small little black wormy bug things that kept falling from under the trees and crawling on me – I spent all day yesterday killing them as I found them in various spots on my body.  I don’t think they bite, because I did not get any bites, but...they were creepy.  Je n’aime pas. 

It didn’t take me long to find the graves one I entered the cemetery – I had seen them in a documentary once, and so it was almost like I had been there before, visiting for a second time.  I recognized the church at the angle Van Gogh painted it at, and I recognized the corner of the cemetery where Vincent and Théo rested.  I picked him a little red poppy and put it on his tombstone, and I watered the flowers that somebody had planted there with the rest of the water in my bottle. 

From there, I just wandered around – I found a forest (a proper forest!) and more wheat fields, and even some chickens and a lizard.  I got thoroughly lost on some backstreet, and saw a plant that literally made me suck in my breath and forget to breathe altogether.  I still have to look it up, but some plants have, I guess, dopplegangers, and this plant is one of those.  One of them is perfectly harmless, and the other can cause blindness if the pollen so much as blows in the wind – I’m going to research it later. 

I found a shop that sells sorbet (crème glace sans lactose!) and my lunch consisted entirely of a little tub of sorbet and a pistachio brioche.  My god, I love brioche.  I need to learn how to make it when I get home...and then I will need to find people who will taste it!  I was very sunburned by then, and I spent the afternoon in a park in the shade reading the remainder of my novel I brought – I finished it, boo. =( ...I wasn’t able to go back to the apartment until 10:30 because Romain had viola practice, so when I got back to Paris I just wandered around.  I got hit on and momentarily stalked by a creepy dude – I had to round a block in order to lose him.  I walked past him on the street and he started talking to me, so I spoke too – and then he was asking me all sorts of questions like  what arrondíssement I was staying in, and what street, and where, and what I was doing for dinner, and I told him I was staying in the 11^th, but when he asked for more information, I told him he didn’t need to know, and that I had to go meet a friend for dinner (I lied) and I was going to be late if I didn’t hurry.  He didn’t leave me alone then, though – and started after me, so I rounded the block real quick and looped back, and then walked off in a different direction from where I had started from.  I was genuinely a little bit concerned for my well-being.  Obviously, I’m fine now. 

I found a pizza shop, which I thought was a godsend – NORMAL food, my goodness!  ...but all it did was upset my stomach.   I think I might swear off pizza – it hurts my stomach almost every time I eat it and I don’t know why, or why I keep persisting if all it does is upset my stomach.  That shit’s harder to give up than cheesecake was. 

The train superintendent (or whatever) guy has just come past, and I had to pay an extra €15 just to STAY on the train, what the hell. 

Overall though, Paris was good.  I didn’t see HALF of what I wanted to, but I got to do other interesting and fun things too – and Romain was a gracious and excellent host – I hope I didn’t annoy him terribly too much with my presence.  I’ll definitely have to come back to Paris one day and catch up on all the things I never got to see.  Obviously, when I write these things, I tend to leave out the more blasé parts about Paris  - how all the metro stations have the faint smell of stale urine, for instance – or precisely how difficult it is for me to communicate in French.  I know just enough French to get my point across, but not nearly enough to not sound like a moron doing it.  Par example, I mixed up two verb conjugates for two days before I realized.  So when I was trying to say “I have” I was saying “I go” ...I felt positively retarded when I remembered them properly.  I also don’t really mention how lonely it is to be unable to communicate to other people easily – it was an easier time in Paris, because it is so touristy, but not many people in France can actually converse in the English language.  I don’t really like that part, and I wish I had a better command of the French language to be able to say more, or to understand people when they speak fast.

Oh, and one more thing:  Mom, I spent TWO hours walking around Paris this morning trying to find a stupid little shop that I didn’t have the stupid address to, so that I could buy you a stupid little gift, and then when I finally found it, the gift I wanted to get was over-the-top stupid expensive...but I found something that I could afford, and you’ll really like.  And no, it’s not a coffee cup.  And no, I’m not telling you what it is.

Bon journée, peeps!  This is all you get for now - it took me 6 hours to get into Clermont-Ferrand, and now it's well past midnight as Violaine, Bruno, and myself went for dinner - oh, my train caught on fire, by the way.  Yeah, a good time was had by no one - a 3 hour train became a 6 hour train with no a/c, and we were stuck two hours at a stop who's name I don't recall.  Oh, did I mention my TRAIN caught on FIRE?  

Yeah.  More posts tomorrow.  Goodnight. 

PS: You can have pictures tomorrow.  Not of the train on fire though, I don't have any.  

 

Paris. 'nough said.

Traffic in Paris is CRAZY.  I don't mean like "crossing the Port Mann in rush hour" crazy, but a whole new level of crazy unidentifyable with anything we have in Canada.  Nobody pays attention to the lights!  Not pedestrians, not drivers, not bicycles, not vespa's.  And yes - vespa's are everywhere. 

Tons of people cycle - it's amazing.  I've seen a woman in high heels cycling through the streets, and men in business suits, and women with baguettes strapped to their rear racks (as opposed to their front racks, which are entirely different things!) ...and even the children have a better taste in clothing than I do.  I feel like a dirty bum walking the chic streets of Paris.

Paris itself is amazing, too.  A giant sprawling cacophony of ancient beige buildings and brilliant architecture.  I was here for two hours before I decided that I want to visit again, and perhaps three hours before I decided I wanted to live here.  Permanently.  There are patisserie's and boulangerie's and brasserie's on every corner (that would be pastry maker, baker, and bar for you peeps that parlez anglais) and I've eaten at all three more times than I can count.  Meal-times are different, too.  Not just here in Paris, of course - but it's taken this many days for things to become routine for me, and life is slowing down a bit now that I'm actually in France.  Breakfast is a mid-morning ordeal, and lunch is at least an hour long.  Dinner isn't until 8pm or later - it's 9:20 as I type this, and I haven't eaten dinner yet.  That's completely normal.

I drank tea out of a bowl this morning.  ...I'm never doing it any other way again.

The tourist sections of Paris are insane.  Waiting times at popular monuments are comparable to waiting in line for the roller coaster at the PNE.  Everything is expensive in the bars - €4.30 for 25cl of beer yesterday (a half pint) and there are scammers and pickpocketers loitering in the tourist areas too.  I'm ashamed to admit I've been gotten twice with scams, because I'm too damned polite to realize what's happening until after.  I only lost €5 though, so at least it wasn't an expensive lesson learned.

I can really see myself adjusting to the french lifestyle - me, a bonified morning person, who hasn't gotten up early than 8AM in several days (that is sleeping in for me, by the way) and who hasn't gone to bed prior to 1AM (a time which I would rather hear nothing of the sort) - it's just different here.  It's normal to eat dinner at 8PM.  It's normal to go for wine at 10PM, and it's normal to wake up mid-morning, and have a one hour breakfast consisting solely of tea or coffee, and some bread.  It's strange, but I like it.

Anyhow - I've done a few touristy things since I've arrived.  I got here yesterday around noon, and I met my couchsurfing host, Romain (you need to roll your R's to pronounce this properly - I feel bad every time I try) at his apartment and dropped off my things, and we chatted for a while, and then I went out to explore Paris.  The weather has been fantastic, and it's about to get hotter.  It was 29C earlier today, and it's supposed to be up to 10 degrees hotter before I leave on Monday.  I immediately hopped on le Métro and made my way down to the Musée D'Orsay, home to magnificent impressionist artists, such as Monet, Van Gogh, Rodin, Manet, etc.  I stood in line for 30 minutes to get into the museum, and then I spent an hour wandering around inside of it.  Pictures were strictly forbidden, but when do I listen to rules?  There were only two pieces I was brave enough to risk taking a photo of, and thank god for camera phones, because I would have been too scared to try with my SLR.  The first one is Van Gogh's Eglise d'Auvers-sur-oise, possibly my favourite painting of all time (from my favourite painter of all time) and the second was a beautiful, yet shocking sculpture made entirely out of different forms of marble.  The cloak actually looked like it was flowing, yet it was made from rock.

From there I walked around, and walked and walked and walked - and eventually ended up on the metro again, and found myself at the Eiffel Tower...and waited in another line-up.  But in the end, it was worth it - I climbed all 800+ stairs of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, and then climbed back down again to take photos of the tower lit up.  It was beautiful.  I didn't even get back to Romain's until nearly midnight - and I got to see a guy play the accordian on the metro, until the police chased him off, anyhow.

Romain and I stayed up until 1:30 talking - why is the world filled with so many amazing people?  He is a chemist, and he can play both violin and viola in the symphony, and he dances.  We tango danced in his living room this morning!  I think I might sense a new hobby approaching - anyone want to learn tango with me?  SAY YES.  

Today, I went out again today and went shopping.  I bought a dress, (it's green, I'm sorry) - and it was on sale, though - I'll spare you the price tag, even on sale.  It wasn't exactly cheap.  I tried finding some shoes to match, but after entering two stores, I remembered I hate shoes and gave up on that endeavour.  I found a local meadery, too - so...needless to say, I bought a bottle of mead. 

Oh, that reminds me - my god-damned credit card declined on me.  I'm going to have to call VISA and yell at them, or something.  I CALLED them prior to departing and TOLD them I was going to be in France. Asshats.

I TRIED to go to the Notré Dame, but it was closed because of some new priests being ordained (also, I apologize - I let this sit for a few hours as Romain and I ate dinner, and now I have half a bottle of wine in me, so I may not be as eloquent as I was previously - I may also have more spelling mistakes) - but I got to see the cathedral at least, and it was beautiful.  After that, I walked down the quai and browsed the stalls that had books - and found one entirely dedicated to SCIENCE FICTION, en français, of course - I bought the third Dune book by Frank Herbert.  I'm going to translate it to help me learn French.  Then I met Romain at the Mosquée du Paris, where we had morrocan mint tea, and it was apparently Gay Pride Day in Paris today, as there was well...a gay pride parade running down the middle of the street.  It was interesting. 

I spent the remainder of my evening sitting in a patisserie reading a book, because Romain had to practice for his symphony next Thursday and wanted some privacy - after that, I came back to the apartment where we've been ever since.  We just finished a lovely pasta dinner with fresh basil, and of course, a bottle of wine.  He's a wonderful conversationalist.  Now, it is nearly midnight, and time for bed shortly, I believe. 

Tomorrow:  Auvers-Sur-Oise, the resting place of Vincent Van Gogh!